Stitching the Summer Flowers

Slowly, I am am adding hand stitching to both of my little summer flowers series.  The hand stitching slows down the progress of a piece, which brings up a significant dilemma.  My art quilts are all about a multitude of textures and details that includes lots of hand stitching.  It also adds exponentially to the time and therefore the selling price of the piece. This occurred to me as I started to stitch yesterday on these little flower quilts.  

Image and designs copyright RPS

One hour's worth of stitching on the day lily, fifteen minutes on the Joe-Pye-Weed.

I have been intending on having 8 x 10" art quilts as a more affordable option to customers at future art fairs.  The more hand stitching I add, the less affordable they are, but leaving out the hand stitching compromises the integrity of my vision for the quilt.  So far, I have worked on the Joe-Pye-Weed for one hour and 35 minutes and the day lily for two hours and ten minutes.  I could split the hour I spent piecing the bases, since I made two bases in that time, that would bring down the times for each.  The hand stitching is something I like to do, but it is going to wreck the cost factor.  Take a look at the Joe-Pye-Weed (the one on the right above), I have a long way to go!  

That day lily really needs some leaves...

Assorted Side Projects

Why, why, oh why did I buy a bushel of cucumbers at the produce auction?  Because I had no idea how many of the little green guys I would need for a batch of bread and butter pickles.  I've never made pickles before, but I really wanted to try this year.  The yield was at least 24 pints of bread and butters, and an unrecorded amount of dill spears - my mom took home a bunch of pints, so I don't know the exact figure. 

The moral of this story is: don't hold back, just jump in and do what you want to do!  The pickles are delicious, and I still have fresh cucumbers - lots of them.

I have set the 8 X 10" flower series aside for a few days, I have been working on a World War I commemorative piece for a challenge.  Here are two steps in the development of the 8 X 10" prototype for the final piece:

Image and design copyright RPS

Step one: a grave marker rubbing with a Shiva paint stick and free motion sewn "drawing" of poppies.

Image and design copyright RPS

Step two: color the poppies with crayon and Pentel Fabric Fun pastel dye sticks.  Hand stitching added to center of the poppy on the right.  One evening's work, that's all.  I'm off now to start the actual challenge piece.

Another Ten Minutes

We all would love more time to create, but we all have busy lives - believe me, I'm right there with you!  I have a point with my "ten minutes" series.  I waste a lot of time everyday messing around with truly foolish stuff, and in breaking the progress of this small art quilt into ten minute increments, I am hoping that I am inspiring you to find a few minutes each day to pursue something that you have been wanting to do.  Give up ten minutes of internet time, skip a TV show for a half hour of good creative time, work on something while sipping your morning coffee, or while waiting for a pot of water to boil.  At the end of one week, astonish yourself with how much you have done on a project.

Image and design copyright RPS

The next ten minute step on my Joe-Pye-Weed mini collage was to couch yarn for the stems, and spot glue the leaves in place so that with another ten minute block I can sew the leaves into place.  After that, I will be ready to start hand stitching the pink florets.  I am looking at the real thing as I work on this, but I am not trying to make an exact botanical illustration, it is a personal interpretation of a flower that I love.

I'll get back to the day lily next week...

Out and About Creating Art

I have touched on this before, and I will keep bringing this up in the future.  If you make something, it is so important to get out and make what you make in front of people.  I spent the weekend with two sewing machines and an embellisher/felting machine at a local art fair.  I am always amazed and pleased at the way people are attracted to watching someone create their wares.  I was sharing a tent with two other artists/crafters, and we always had an appreciative crowd.  Take any opportunity that you can to stitch, draw, paint, etc. where you can be observed.  Talk to people about what you are doing, encourage others to learn to make something.

I've also gone on here before about artist trading cards, and I am now making a point to carry some of my own finished ATCs along with some blank ones and a small kit of art supplies.  Last month, at a non-art event, I was approached by an adorable young girl who was asking anyone and everyone if they wanted a picture.  As is turned out, she had made a bunch of tiny crayon drawings and simply wanted everyone to have one!  What a great kid!  I have tucked the drawing I received into my art journal, and I wish that I could get one of my ATCs to her.  From now on, I will be prepared to encourage anyone who wants to make a card in return for one of mine.  This is a great way to get children to value creativity and art, get them to realize that art is valuable and should have a role in our lives.

So, I now have a challenge for you.  Take ten or twenty minutes, make something (try some artist trading cards) and give it away.

Five Things for the Weekend

Yikes, Thursday already?  A very short post today since I am running around trying to gather things for the art fair this weekend.  All you get is five things I must take with me:
1. Sewing Machine
2. Fabric collages in progress
3. Basic sewing supply kit
4. Blank trading cards
5. Crayons and markers to decorate the trading cards.

There is a story behind #4 and 5, for next week.  I've got to get this stuff in the car!

In Ten Minutes

So, I have two little stitched pieces that I intend to be bases for some sort of embellishing.  I have not touched the pieces since I put them together last Wednesday.  I have though a lot about what I want to do with them over the past few days.  Many ideas for this project have flowed through my brain, and I keep coming back to putting a single flower on each one.  I picked a Joe-Pye-Weed flower head and placed it on one of the pieced back to see how it might look, thinking that I could stitch a portrait of the flower:

I want to do something with a day lily too, so I gave myself ten minutes today to come up with petals for that and leaves for the Joe-Pye-Weed:

All images copyright RPS

Yes, ten minutes, that is it.  I have not sewn the pieces yet, they will be raw edge appliqued.  I freehand cut the pieces, looking at the real things while I cut.  The orange for the day lily is silk dupioni that I dyed last summer with marigold flowers, and the green is a hand-dyed cotton gauze.  Now, I won't work on these again until the weekend.  I'll take them with me to a local art festival where I will be doing demos.  I should have both pieces finished next week, and I will document the time spent on them over the weekend.  How long do you think it will take me to stitch the leaves and petals down, stitch the stems and hand stitch the flower head for the Joe-Pye-Weed?

On Thursday, I will have some sort of of-the wall ramble here...

In One Hour

With peach and blackberry on my mind, as promised I allotted one hour to come up with a base for a fabric collage.  First, I made a very quick selection of fabrics and ironed them:

Next, I cut several sized of strips, and started sewing them together:

Moving on, I kept trimming where needed and sewing pieces to create not one, but two sections of pieced fabric, until they were big enough to be able to get 8 X 10" pieces out of them.

Here's the final result, two collage bases, each 8 1/2 X 10 1/2, in less than one hour. 

All images and designs copyright RPS

Yes, the size is small, but think about finishing things quickly.  If you are pressed for time, look for small projects.  You won't get overwhelmed, and your confidence will grow as you get satisfaction in finishing something in days or a week or two.

Next week, find out how I embellish the two pieces.  I honestly have no finished image in mind right now for these.  I am simply playing with a color palette.